


Benefits and Perks are just a bonus

by drelfina



Series: The Konoha Performance Incentive [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: AU of an AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eventual Happy Ending, Implied other naruto pairings, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M, Multi, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sweet, Timeline What Timeline, long fic that just kept going longer, surprisingly sweet fic for the setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-10 06:35:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18654925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drelfina/pseuds/drelfina
Summary: ANBU, jounin, Clan heir. Uchiha Itachi is doing this just fine.Until he sees his baby brother's Academy Teacher again. He'd seen him before, when he'd graduated the Academy those handful of years ago.A direct continuation ofKey Performance Indicators.





	1. Precision Matters

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [a shining knight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18449444) by [sweetsinnerchild](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sweetsinnerchild/pseuds/sweetsinnerchild). 



> So this is a continuation of the other KPI story, and for a good portion of it, runs as 'canonical' background to sweetsinnerchild's A Shining Knight. 
> 
> it diverges somewhere in Chapter 3 though, so I'll note it there. 
> 
> And for an ItaIru story, Iruka takes a remarkably long time to show up for real.

"Huh, never thought I'd see a bunch of kids so happy to see their teacher," Genma said. He was lounging in one of the many trees overlooking the Academy training grounds. The training grounds were actually next to Training Field 4, one of the warded, cordoned off areas for tokubetsu jounin training. It shouldn't have been anywhere near the Academy, but after the explosion in the Academy's water-pipes two years ago, the Training Field 1-3 were repurposed for the new Academy campus, while the old ruins of the Academy was essentially let to go back to nature, and had become the unofficial TF 1-3 in return. 

It meant that several jounin could hang out here, ostensibly training, while checking out their potential students. 

Or. Well. 

Itachi was crouched on a branch just above his taicho, but it wasn't like they were doing more than idly watching movement on the field just a shuriken's throw away. They were waiting for their last member of the team to return from his report so they could get back to _actual_ training. TF4 was one of the few fields in Konoha that approximated the sand dunes in Suna, after all, and seeing that in a week Genma was leading their squad out there to check out rumours of a missing-nin setting up shop and selling illegal biologicals, Itachi was going to want to get a refresher on moving on sand. 

From their vantage point, the kids and their instructors wouldn't be able to see into TF4; it had been booked for ANBU training, so both Genma and Itachi had slid their masks off, Itachi's mask sitting on top of his head while Genma's was dangling down his neck. It was safe enough; only ANBU would be able to cross the wards, and it was a very warm day. 

Itachi heard laughter from the children, shifted to straighten - 

"It's Iruka-sensei," Itachi said, catching sight of Sasuke's dark mess of hair, and smiled a little. "Sasuke-kun likes him a lot." 

"I never liked seeing my own teacher in the academy," Genma remarked. "Face like a hatchet, tongue even worse." 

"Sasuke-kun says that Iruka-sensei has a quick temper, but he's fair and he always makes good games." 

"Eh, looking for one of your cousins, eh, Uchiha?" their final member said, dropping lightly onto the branch next to him. Itachi's smile flattened immediately. 

Itachi had worked with Takane once or twice. Genma's squad tended to be fixed while Itachi had been new; Genma, Raidou, Itachi and Hayate. But Hayate had been down with a severe lung infection for the past two weeks, and he'd only be up and running again perhaps in three days. It'd take a while for him to catch up again, particularly since the medics said that dry Suna air would definitely aggravate his condition, so Takane had taken his place for the time being. 

Decent with the sword, a reasonable replacement for Hayate. 

"Aww, you were smiling just now, Uchiha, guess you're looking forward to your cousin growing up and making chuunin eh? The best fucks keep it within the family." Takane nudged Itachi with his elbow, the fore-arm guard finding the weak-spot in Itachi's armour accurately, digging into his ribs, and Itachi had a kunai in his hand - 

A senbon thunked under Takane's feet, just missing his toes. 

"No Clan talk while training," Genma said flatly. 

"Oh come on, Taicho, you have to lighten up a little." 

"Go on and meet up with Raidou in the centre of the field, Itachi," Genma said. "Takane. Shut up." 

"Was just a joke," Takane muttered, but Itachi had already sheathed his kunai and leapt off the tree, putting the sight of his brother and his sensei behind him. Training was important. Yes. 

If they did this quickly, he'd be able to pick Sasuke up from school, and not stab his squadmate in the process.

Genma would shut down crude jokes, sure, but he'd definitely report any unwarranted stabbing, and Takane's jokes were just that, crude and uncivilised, but nothing more. Him stabbing Takane, even in someplace completely non-permanent, would still result in disciplinary action; Genma was scrupulously fair. Laid-back, and off the field he even did have a sense of humour, but he didn't mess around with mission- and success-readiness. 

But Genma's policy of no-jokes when the masks went on was a definite help. 

***

They did finish on time, though now Itachi's feet felt abraded by the sand, grains having worked their way into every part of his sandals that meant this pair was going to be recycled when he got them home; the other pair he would be taking to the mission, he was also going to have to sacrifice. 

It was an easy discomfort to ignore when he went to pick up Sasuke, having packed away his armour and mask and donned his simple jounin vest. 

"Ita-nii!" Sasuke called. Ten years old but still so happy to see him, Itachi couldn't help the smile as he patted Sasuke's hair when his little brother barreled into his knees. "Look, look what we did today!" 

"That's very good," Itachi agreed, taking the little paper target that Sasuke handed him. "A very good precision and accuracy grouping," he said. 

"Iruka-sensei helped," Sasuke said. 

"Oh?" Itachi glanced up at the sensei Sasuke was pointing at. 

Up close, Itachi was reminded strongly of the first time he'd seen Umino Iruka. 

Itachi had graduated the Academy after only six months, but it had been in time to be ceremoniously awarded the hitai-ate with a few other graduates too, ranging from ten to thirteen years old, and Umino Iruka had been just after him, a full handspan taller than Itachi, and he had a kind grin for Itachi too. 

Or maybe he had just been excited to graduate, apparently at 11 years old. Other graduates had been looking at Itachi curiously - a few even enviously - but Umino had told him, "Congratulations!" when his name had been called. 

Perhaps it was nothing. Iruka clearly didn't recognise him beyond, _Uchiha Itachi, older brother of Uchiha Sasuke, famous shinobi jounin, heir of Uchiha Clan_ , and not the little kid who had been still just a little nervous about being in a ceremony without his parents and no briefing on what was going on. And now, Umino Iruka was the pet of the most powerful shinobi in Konoha, Sarutobi Hiruzen himself. 

His heart _still_ skipped a little beat when Iruka smiled up at him and waved, even if it was probably directed at Sasuke. 

*** 

"How on _earth_ do you handle it, I wonder," Takane said, when they were on the way back, sand trailing in their wake. The grit had, as Itachi had predicted, wormed into the very seams of their shoes. Sadly they hadn't encountered enough of the Suna nin for Itachi to copy any of their jutsu that they used for sand-running; sand didn't work like water, didn't have the same surface tension, so transferring water-walking was at best inefficient, especially when Itachi's feet were already so small. 

"Handle what." Takane hadn't bothered him much on the way there; he and Raidou had been mostly assigned to watch their backs, with Itachi's sharper eyes and Genma's rain of senbon as their point. 

But now the mission was over, the blood had been scrubbed off with sand and the evidence of their presence had been swallowed by the desert. There were the start of trees again, as they crossed over the boundaries between countries, the sands fading back and in half a day's run, the only trace of the desert would just be in their sandals. 

Itachi's feet felt scrubbed raw by the thin layer of just tangible grains, trapped against skin that was used to the far smoother texture of leather. It was something to be endured until they got home, and he could send these to be recycled or retired. 

(Maybe next time he goes to Kaze he'll just go barefoot. At least he'd stop wasting shoes then.) 

"Those multitudes of cousins. There's just you and Shisui-senpai isn't it?" 

"My Father is also Jounin," Itachi said, voice still flat, still facing forward, the backs of his taicho and Raidou several paces ahead. 

"Sure, okay, count him too," Takane said with a shrug so audible it made Itachi want to narrow his eyes. "Probably helps, since Shisui's always out on missions." 

It wasn't a secret, the comings and goings of any of the more prominent shinobi. Shisui was in Konoha so seldom that Itachi had, over the years he'd become jounin and ANBU, been the one to declare that his newly promoted chuunin clan-mates were under his protection. 

It might have appeared silly the first time, a tiny eleven-year-old making such a serious declaration for his sixteen-year-old cousin, but all other jounin had taken it perfectly seriously, and as far as Itachi knew, none of his relatives had been as rudely educated as Itachi had, four years ago, in that training room. 

Itachi stayed silent - he had an idea of where Takane's point was going, but there was always a chance that he'd surprise Itachi. 

The silence didn't deter the man. 

"It's probably a heavy duty isn't it? Takes up all your time." 

"My cousin and I split our duties," Itachi said, evenly. Quellingly. "When he is not present, I take over his duties, and vice-versa." 

"Ho, so like you fuck half the cousins, and he fucks the other half? Even so, how on earth do you manage to not -gurk!" 

Takane had chosen - to be fair, not _well_ , but good enough, a location. In ANBU, good enough was usually good enough for government work, because being a perfectionist wasn't going to get you very far. 

It was far enough from their site of their targets, they were on their way back, the mission was a success, and sand was very absorbent. 

"The _hell_ , Itachi!" Takane yelled, staring down at the kunai Itachi had buried in the back of his hand. 

Genma and Raidou had stopped, turned around, and in two steps Genma was already snagging Takane's wrist and eying it. 

"That is going to scar," Genma said, after a moment while Takane grit his teeth. 

Itachi shrugged. 

"I did say no Clan-talk," Genma said. 

"It was just a _joke_." 

Genma tsk'd, and jabbed a senbon in the man's wrist. "Ow FUCK." 

The hand went limp; that pressure point hurt like hell when it got jabbed, but within half a second the hand would go numb, and Genma could extract the kunai with no trouble. Raidou handed him a roll of bandage from his own wrist, and Genma started wrapping, hands sparking a little with chakra. 

"Don't wander off, Ferret." 

Itachi shifted, frowned. "I wasn't leaving, Taicho.' 

"Watch. I won't always be cleaning up after you." 

When Genma said that, it was always something he wanted Itachi to learn. Itachi had excellent chakra control, of course, why wouldn't he? But medical jutsu wasn't something he often got to observe, and the deft shift and play of chakra Genma used was an exercise in precision finer than Itachi normally used. 

He took the hint; blinking open a sharingan to record it, picture perfect. 

"Thank you Taicho," Takane finally managed when Genma tied it off. 

"Don't joke around on missions," Genma said, flatly. "Ferret, I'm going to have to report this." 

Itachi dipped his head a little. "Hai." 

"Your precision has improved, however," Genma said. "Keep it up. Move out."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stop wearing sandals to a fucking desert, then, Itachi. Or wrap your feet up in something. God, learn to make better clothing choices.
> 
> Itachi's totally sulking that because he's still kind of tiny, his tiny little feet means he doesn't have enough surface area and thus he sinks in the sand. Meanwhile his teammates all have Giant Man Feet which means they don't sink as much. 
> 
> Sulky Itachi is sulky.


	2. Decency

"He's a decent shinobi," Genma said, leaning back in his seat. Their private corner room in the Silver Shuriken was quiet and their window opened out into the garden. There would be no smoke from the other guests drifting into their room, and Itachi was pleased with Genma's thoughtfulness. 

Itachi made a small questioning sound, and leaned over to pour sake into Genma's cup, careful not to let his yukata sleeve drape into the cup.

"Really. I know you Uchiha don't like him, but if you look at it objectively, he'd managed to take something completely foreign, shoved into him under terrible field conditions, and he actually managed to make it work for him. Most of us wouldn't even be able to use anything like use a foreignly implanted bloodline limit without basically killing ourselves." 

Itachi tapped his own cup against the table. 

He didn't drink much, not even since he made Chuunin. Technically he could have. Old enough to kill, old enough to drink. But now he was feeling the urge. 

Drills today had been Genma's typical, a somewhat haphazard mish-mash of standard physical training exercises, punctuated with Genma calling for the entire squad to support Itachi in growing taller. 

Of course, he'd only shout encouragement during exercises when said exercise was least likely to involve vertical growth at all. 

_"Weighted squats aren't going to help with his growth, Genma," Hayate had said._

_Itachi had exhaled with the force needed to NOT roll his eyes. "Taicho has developed some incredibly eccentric notions of how human physiology works, Hayate-san. We should leave him to his delusions."_

_"Excuse you, I am a _doctor_ ," Genma said, and dropped another plate of twenty kilos on Hayate's pole. _

_"You are _not_ a doctor," Hayate had retorted._

For some reason, ever since Itachi had accepted the ANBU mask from Genma, Genma had decided to personally oversee his training and development as a shinobi. Having remembered that time in the training room with Aoba and Ebisu, Itachi had had doubted Genma's apparent altruism. After all, if he had somehow managed to disappoint Genma in that one mission he'd taken with him as a chuunin, then surely Genma couldn't have wanted to take him on? 

One of the first things he'd done was hand Itachi a bundle of senbon and have him throw them at tiny targets the size of a 1 ryou coin. The first few times had been humiliating - Genma was already well known for his precision with the sharp needles, even if his real specialty was in poisons. Meanwhile, Itachi had concentrated mostly in speed and his ninjutsu - he was good enough to hit centre mass with shuriken and kunai to disable an opponent ten meters away in dense foliage; it was still heaps better than most chuunin and some jounin. He didn't _need_ to be better than that. 

But Genma, he who could take three targets' eyeballs out at the twice the distance with needles thinner than half a standard senbon? In comparison, it was obvious he thought that Itachi wasn't good enough. 

It had taken weeks, though, as he'd grimly worked on his precision, getting his throws to be not only accurate, but to cluster tighter together that Genma had given him something of a smile. 

And then started him on knife-strikes and the human body. 

Little by little, Genma's manner thawed around him as Itachi proved that he was willing to work hard and train harder, even when his sharingan had awoken, to not rely on just his ninjutsu and the bloodline limit. And then eventually when Itachi was ANBU for a year, Genma started calling the drills as a way for Itachi to grow taller. 

_"So that you don't have to use a stepstool to kill a Mist-shinobi,"_ Genma had said. _"You know how tall those bastards get._

It had taken that long for Itachi to realise that maybe Genma just wanted to ensure he was the best shinobi he could be; the teasing was that he was already part of the team that Genma had formed before Itachi had even made chuunin. 

Now, almost six years later, and commanding his own squad, Genma-taicho was still one of the few jounin outside of his family whose opinion Itachi trusted. 

Hence him voicing his concern over Hatake Kakashi being assigned to be Sasuke's jounin-sensei. 

Itachi wasn't looking forward to the talk he was going to have with Sasuke when he made chuunin; the fact that he'd been held back at the standard pace with the other students was a miracle that he had spent many nights arguing with his Father over. Sasuke might chafe at being held back, but Itachi had made sure his other cousins had been available to teach Sasuke anything beyond the curriculum that he might desire - Sasuke having plenty of friends not just within the Clan couldn't be anything but good. Itachi had also been very careful to tell Sasuke to help his classmates out - just because the material came easy to him in school didn't mean that others didn't find it difficult, and these were going to be his future teammates - he should ensure that they were able to keep themselves safe and watch his back, after all. 

All those connections had to mean that Sasuke would be safer than Itachi had been once he made chuunin. 

And Sasuke was going to make Chuunin. There was no doubt about it, no matter that field promotions these days were a lot less likely than it had been in Itachi's time. The fact that more shinobi were coming home alive thanks to advances in medical jutsu and less overt war meant the rise of bloodthirsty ambition in all levels, with the hokage determined to keep improving and increasing Konoha's reputation and opening up several more jounin slots. Last year one more Uchiha had managed to be promoted to jounin, which was a help, but it meant that people were now looking to Sasuke to step out from Itachi's shadow. 

All of these worries hung in Itachi's mind. Genma didn't take on genin teams - very few tokubetsu jounin did, unless they specialised in education and psychology. Neither Shisui nor Itachi could take on Sasuke's team, Itachi because he was Sasuke's _brother_ , and the appearance of nepotism was just too much, while Shisui was still very much a field shinobi. Their newly promoted cousin was too green and new as a jounin still to be trusted to mentor genin, and these were all excuses to put the Uchiha into their place for daring to get another jounin in their family. 

Hiruzen _strongly_ recommending Hatake Kakashi as Sasuke's mentor was pretty much the slap in the face it appeared to be. 

"Hatake Kakashi is no friend to the Uchiha," Itachi said finally, before taking a swallow of his own sake. "How do I know…" that he would treat Sasuke fairly? 

Jounin-sensei didn't fuck with the genin, obviously, but jounin in general did keep a close eye on the genin who were put in jounin-led teams, because these were all the genin marked with potential for making chuunin. Now that the chuunin exams had been re-established with annual regularity, every June was going to make Itachi's heart crawl up his throat at the risk of his little brother being nominated for the exams. 

Itachi didn't know the man personally - there was little reason to believe he'd try training up the genin he was assigned for his own personal use, but… 

"He does only one-night stands," Genma said, his words an apparent non-sequitur and casual in tone, but his dark amber gaze was knowing. "None of them were inexperienced chuunin either." 

Due to the rude and abrupt education that Itachi had… endured in the training room six years ago, Itachi had quickly learnt the rules for what it meant to be chuunin and claimed. 

Over the years, especially once he became jounin, he had observed no less than four public claimings of connection-less, small-family or civilian-born chuunin.

Itachi was not stupid - he knew that the Uchiha Clan had granted him some modicum of protection; Ebisu and Aoba had not been… rough, nor vicious with their entirely legal actions, but a Clan was still no guarantee of protection. It had taken him maybe two years to put together the somewhat crude hints that others made about Shisui sometimes and why Shisui had seemed so adamant that Itachi stay away from Danzo.

Cultivating a reputation of being trigger happy with a knife had been just good strategy, and one that Itachi strongly suspected had been subtly encouraged by Genma. 

All the more he should trust Genma's opinion. 

"I don't want him to push Sasuke too hard," Itachi murmured, as Genma reached over for the sake bottle and tipped some into Itachi's cup for him. 

"Now that," Genma said, with a smirk as he flicked a senbon from one side of his mouth to the other, "is up to a jounin-sensei, yeah? You didn't actually have one did you?" 

"No, not for very long. And I was recommended to be promoted. Almost field promotion." 

"I wasn't," Genma said, simply. "At that time, there was an active war, and my team really wanted us to go for the exams. Pretty sure that maybe the Academy teachers might think we were too young. If i had had family, maybe they would have protested." Genma's teeth clicked on the senbon, a familiar sound that Itachi had long since gotten used to. "But our sensei had seen us for two years on missions, inside and out of Konoha. We'd run messages through active war zones. If anyone, our sensei was the only one who could say we were ready."

Itachi had known of this story, but mainly from tiny bits and pieces that Genma might have mentioned over their years of being under Genma's command and a lot of extrapolation on Itachi's part. 

"I guess Tsume-sensei also cared enough to give us the Talk," Genma said, considering it. "And I was lucky enough Raidou was already jounin." He threw back his cup of sake, and helped himself to another drink. "Your brother is fortunate to have you and Shisui." 

Here, another hint to Genma's past. Genma and Raidou had been together a long time, but Itachi hadn't known that Genma had been claimed by Raidou; Raidou's slender two year seniority and his speciality in discrete and effective assassination meant that his field promotion to jounin must have taken place relatively early, particularly in an active war period, in perfect time to be able to claim Genma before anyone else could. 

Genma was watching him with slightly hooded eyes. 

Itachi slanted his head forward a little - a nod acknowledging the honour and trust Genma was giving him in letting that tiny tidbit drop. People who didn't know Genma and Raidou well didn't even know that they were _together_ , they were that discreet. 

"I suppose Hatake is a reasonable shinobi to mentor Sasuke-kun," Itachi finally said. "After all, if he has the sharingan he should be able to make accommodations in Sasuke-kun's training. No other available jounin sensei would." 

Genma hummed his agreement. "You're going to get me another bottle of sake, Itachi? Tomorrow I start my new assignment, and you promised to help celebrate." 

"I'm not your subordinate anymore Taicho, you can't order me around." But Itachi was already reaching for the little bell pull so he could summon the wait-staff for another bottle. 

Well. If Genma thought it would be alright, then it had to be. Itachi was just an overly invested older brother; Sasuke would be alright. 

***

With the Chuunin exams coming up, Itachi's squad was summoned to attend the chuunin team nominations and to discuss the security arrangements after. 

There was, as far as Itachi had been keeping track, only three teams of genin who had more than a year's experience, one of which included a Hyuuga. Apparently that was generating some talk amongst the other jounin.

There was no real point for everyone to be so excited, Itachi thought with some detached disdain. As pretty as Hyuuga were, Hiashi held all of them in an iron-fist, so even if many of the Hyuuga chuunin were field-active, everyone was look but no touch. Itachi didn't see why they'd bother. 

Perhaps it was one of those, 'maybe he'd slip up this year'. 

It'd happened before, after all. 

Itachi tightened his hands into fists by his sides, until the urge to shudder passed. 

In the shadows behind Sandaime, Itachi could just about catch a hint of a cape from one of the ANBU guard. Probably wasn't Genma, but the thought of trying to see if he could catch sight of his now former Taicho was a little game that was going to entertain Itachi till the last of the jounin-sensei showed up. 

Genma had seemed fairly pleased with his new assignment; as much as the man liked field work, being the Hokage's bodyguard was actually fairly low risk since Sandaime never left the Village now as he had used to in his youth, nor was it an active warzone the way it had teetered often into being in the Yondaime's time. Not being able to watch Raidou's back personally on Raidou's missions, though, was probably the only drawback. 

Still, they were ANBU - they did what the Hokage ordered them to. 

There was a faint stir amongst the chuunin administrators and academy teachers when the jounin-sensei came in. Unlike the other jounin who were there ostensibly to help coordinate security concerns, the jounin-sensei couldn't help being late. Even genin-missions were a bit of a crap-shoot at times, depending on which jounin-sensei had recently offended the mission room chuunin, and whether those D-ranks were going to blow up to C-ranks or just take longer than expected. 

Chuunin working the desks at the mission-room were mostly Intel-chuunin, and you fucked with those at the risk of your own life on actual field missions. There were stories of particularly vindictive chuunin taking down an entire squad of jounin with just a slightly redacted piece of intel, oh it was an accident, I plain forgot, I'm so sorry jounin-san. Won't happen again. End result had been three new jounin-promotions within two weeks. 

If the genin in those teams were any sort of observant, they would aim for an intel position, particularly those who didn't have clan connections. 

It started out - well, normal. In the past few years since the Chuunin exams had been re-established in a sort of international format, and this wasn't the first briefing that Itachi had sat through. An update of the relationships with their international neighbours, and the number of potential teams the others were going to be sending to Konoha to host. They were going to be paying particular attention to the Suna-teams this time - one team was consisting of the Kazekage's offspring, dangerous and vicious little things that they were even though that they were just genin, and that had to be saying something, considering the state of shinobi here in Konoha. 

Itachi paid perfect attention through it all, but tensed when the Sandaime called for team nominations. 

One of the senior teams declined, another said yes with a touch of hesitance, and then Maito Gai put forth his team's nomination with all the force that one might expect from him. 

The chatter dialed up around Itachi. 

The Hyuuga was going for the exams! 

Itachi took a deep breath. 

"Now the new teams?" Sandaime said, voice mild. 

No one seemed to care; it wasn't like any of the new jounin-sensei would put forward their teams so early, it was barely three months since they'd graduated - 

"I am nominating Team 7," Hatake said, voice bored. 

The room went pin-drop silent, and Itachi's breath caught. 

No. No _what_? 

Before he could stand to ask Hatake just what were his _reasons_ , because Sasuke was far too young, too inexperienced, to even go for the chuunin exams, did he not hear what the exam challenges were going to _be_? And going against a team of the Kazekage's own children? Someone else beat him to the punch. 

"You can't be serious!" Umino Iruka was standing and, shouting, yes _shouting_ at Hatake Kakashi. "They could _die!_ " 

Everyone else shifted, and an almost palpable wave of shifting _away_ from the foolhardy Chuunin teacher. 

Hatake's body posture didn't change, his aura stayed exactly the same, but there was a gleam in Hatake's visible eye as it narrowed just the slightest amount. 

Itachi stiffened, bracing for - anything at all. How was Iruka not at all afraid? There were chuunin who were the Elders' pets, or pets of extremely dangerous and possessive jounin, particularly the older ones, but even they would have hardly dared to challenge a jounin in _public_ like this. 

Was being the Hokage's pet really that much of a protection? 

Looking at Iruka, however, Itachi noted that Iruka was truly not afraid - filled with righteous anger like - it wasn't like a shield. 

It was like he didn't even _know_ that there was anything to shield against. 

"The Chuunin exams are dangerous all the time," Hatake said, "It's not like it's going to get easier next year." 

"They're just _students!_ " 

Reckless. The Hokage wasn't _stopping_ it, not even calling his chuunin to order, and Itachi had no idea what it meant. What it could mean - Iruka had always been perfectly pleasant and polite to Itachi, when he met him the few times in the mission room and when Itachi went to pick up Sasuke. 

Not afraid. Itachi had not paid that lack of fear any attention, merely admiring how Iruka had been so gentle and kind with Sasuke. Now this fearlessness seemed suicidal. 

"They're not your _students_ anymore," Hatake said, hands still in his pockets. This meant nothing. Itachi was fast, but Itachi had seen Hatake on the training grounds before, and Hatake was not known as the White Fang's son for nothing. Despite the Uchiha's wariness of this man, he wielded the stolen sharingan with speed and ruthlessness. 

He didn't need his hands free to make sure Iruka paid dearly for the insult. 

"They're my soldiers now." Hatake's voice was no longer lazy. It was low and silky, and he was turned to face Iruka, taking him in fully. "Besides. It would be interesting to see how they… break." 

That was _Sasuke_ Hatake was talking about! 

Itachi almost broke protocol to step forward, to demand he take that back, when Sandaime waved his hand. 

"Enough. The jounin-sensei of Team 7 has nominated his team. What about the others?" 

Yuuhi and Sarutobi nominated their teams, and Iruka was clearly all but vibrating with tension - was it finally some sort of fear? 

Itachi swallowed down the roar in his head. There was something going on here, was Hatake trying to provoke the Uchiha? What was _wrong_ with Iruka-sensei, that he'd actually say something like that? 

Was the Hokage up to something? 

***

As soon as the meeting broke up, Itachi signalled his team to stay and discuss security and update him later, as he left to catch Hatake before he left the building. 

"Hatake-san," he called out, to the lanky form with Sarutobi Asuma and Yuuhi Kurenai. 

"Ah, the reckoning is here," Sarutobi said. "You'll catch up at the bar, Kakashi?" 

"Hn," Hatake said with a laconic wave, and he stopped as Itachi caught up. "Ferret-san." he tilted his head. "Or shall I say, Uchiha-san?" 

"May I know your reasons to have Team 7 take the chuunin exams so early?" he said, keeping his voice even. He wasn't going to take Hatake to task for using his name in public while he was wearing the ANBU mask. 

Hatake had always been something of a wild-card, his family history being wracked with scandal that followed his child-genius track record all the way into ANBU. He always finished his missions, no mistake, and that was something to be respected. 

Genma-taicho had said he was a decent shinobi. Itachi _had_ to trust that. 

Hatake just looked at him, just as even, his aura perfectly calm. Itachi kept his breathing quiet behind the mask, and settled in to look like he was perfectly willing to wait for hours if necessary. 

"Maa," Hatake said finally. "You take everything so seriously, Ferret. I don't expect them to pass. Not this round. But it's good for them to have some experience." 

His eye crinkled a little. Maybe a smile, but Itachi found it difficult to trust. 

"After all, we know how _hard_ it was to become chuunin, ne? Don't worry. I'm sure that Sasuke-kun will have _plenty_ of time to learn the intricacies of being chuunin before he achieves that promotion." 

Itachi swallowed down a lump of _something_. 

"If that is all," Hatake said, turning away, dismissing Itachi. "You can always check our mission reports. I don't hold parent-teacher conferences, after all." 

Itachi inhaled and exhaled, trying to keep his breathing shallow and even. 

Hatake had just rounded the corner and Itachi about to return to his squad when Iruka-sensei came, walking up and - 

He looked a little flushed but again, not afraid. 

At all. 

"ANBU-san," Iruka said, surprised at seeing him. "Ah, did you see Hatake-san? I have to speak with him." 

"I would strongly advise against that," Itachi said because without the Hokage in sight to hold Hatake, who knew what might happen? 

Suddenly Itachi was struck with the idea that something was desperately off. 

"I have to apologise to him," Iruka-sensei started. 

"After such an insult? It would be better you apologised later, perhaps the next time you saw him in the mission-room, sensei," Itachi said, unsure why he was explaining this. 

Iruka frowned, before nodding. "Alright, ANBU-san. I suppose… you're right. He was wrong, though, you know that right? They not even a year out of the Academy." 

"You should not be saying that to me," Itachi said, even as his heart warmed at the fact that Sasuke's sensei still was looking out for him. 

"Perhaps. But you won't tell him, ne, ANBU-san?" Iruka said, flashing him something like a cheeky-smile before turning to head back to the Hokage's office. 

"No, I won't," Itachi said, very quietly. 

He was going to have to talk to Genma as soon as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *SCREAMING SO HARD* 
> 
> That aside: I've been time-skipping fairly hard, and it's really timeline-what-timeline going on here. As far as i can see, the Uchiha Massacre hasn't happened and will not happen. Sasuke grows up with his idolized big brother, and Shisui is still not dead. He is just quite a bit older than Itachi, and views Itachi (and Sasuke) as his baby cousins to protect. Dynamics of 'best friend' is probably not the same as in canon. 
> 
> Also how the fuck they have their sharingans? Well who the fuck cares, i'm not going to traumatise them with death of their family to get it. 
> 
> I mean other than Itachi's traumatic… "education".


	3. Divergence

"I should never have said he was decent," Genma said, but he wasn't looking at Itachi. 

Genma had ostentatiously come over to discuss security issues with the upcoming chuunin exams, but that had been dispensed with fairly quickly. 

"No, that isn't what i meant," Genma amended quickly before Itachi could say anything else. "He's a decent _shinobi_. I know you haven't worked directly with him, but i have, and he'd always been professional. Respected other team-captains, and none of his subordinates really had any problems with him." 

"But?" Itachi was carefully rolling their discussion notes into a tight scroll, being particularly meticulous about it.

"But I'd never seen him alone with the Hokage before," Genma said. "You know the bodyguards don't count then." 

Itachi himself had stood in front of the Hokage on his own several times before, just the Hokage and the ticking clock, and even _knowing_ that the Hokage had his own hidden guards didn't mean that you didn't still feel like it was just you and him. Itachi nodded, cautiously. 

"He always is giving off killing intent as soon as he's alone with the Hokage," Genma said. "Apparently that's _normal_. None of the other guards find it odd, not from Hatake." 

The senbon clicked between his teeth.

"That's…" Treason, Itachi didn't finish. It was worse than insubordination, particularly since they _all_ knew exactly what Hatake Kakashi was capable of. 

"Honest, in a way, at least he isn't _hiding_ it," Genma said. "And it amuses Sandaime-sama, I think." 

"Of course," Itachi said. Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn't Sandaime for nothing - after Yondaime's death, it would have been perfectly reasonable for a Godaime to be elected, but for Sandaime to take back his post after retiring said… Something. 

A lot of somethings. And the Elders hadn't said fuck all about it too. 

"But it means that there's a lot to Hatake we can't be sure about," Itachi said finally. "Decent shinobi, but threatens the Sandaime just looking at him - does he want to be Hokage?" 

In some quarters, it might have been expected - after all Hiruzen had been the Nidaime's student, and Yondaime, young as he was, had been student of Hiruzen's student. Godaime being Hatake Kakashi wouldn't have raised any real eyebrows but. 

But he had been a bare teenager then, hardly ready to take the village back from the aftermath of the kyuubi's destruction. Too young. Too fragile, barely standing in the wreck of Konoha, and Konoha had needed someone strong.

"Maybe," Genma admitted after a long thought. "I don't know. But it doesn't stand that if he's a decent shinobi he's necessarily a decent sensei. Might be why Sandaime-sama's not even putting that option on the table. Must smart." 

Itachi nodded, with a frown. 

"I feel…" Itachi said, hesitated, and carefully traced a seal on their scroll. "That there is something odd going on with that chuunin sensei. Hokage's toy, you know him?" It was some sort of nebulous _something wrong_ but Itachi wasn't sure he could articulate it properly. 

"I've seen him in the mission desk," Genma said, "And… I'm not sure he's the Hokage's toy." 

Itachi raised an eyebrow at him. 

Genma shrugged, but the senbon was very still between his teeth. "They just play shogi when he comes over, and I've never seen him enter the Hokage's bed chambers." 

Odd, Itachi thought. Very odd. 

"And now Hatake's hovering around him, particularly," Genma added. 

"I see," Itachi said. 

This was - something he needed to see for himself. 

Sasuke'd liked this sensei, he knew, and Itachi had his own vague memories of the boy from their academy graduation ceremony. 

He should find out more of him, at the mission desk, because with Genma mentioning how Hatake was _hovering_? 

A sense of urgency was prickling Itachi's instincts, and Itachi always, _always_ listened to is instincts. 

*** 

When preparing to make any move, information gathering was key.

He needed to confirm Genma's assessment for himself, and he'd been casually going into the mission desk with a cousin, apparently to escort him to his desk duty, but it also happened to be one of Iruka-sensei's shifts. 

Immediately he noticed Hatake, leaning against the wall just next to the door. 

It wasn't uncommon for jounin to lurk in the mission room, because this was not only where missions were processed and given out, it was also a prime spot for gossip, though of course jounin kept the gossip a little more sedate in such a place, since genin also came by. 

It was also eye-candy central - since so many chuunin passed through it, and while Itachi generally never needed to pick up his own missions from the mission desk, having them assigned to him personally from the Hokage, he made a point of walking his cousins to the mission desk for their own missions at least once a week when he was in Konoha. 

So Hatake lurking in the mission desk wasn't unusual. It shouldn't be - he'd be just one of the many jounin who lingered here, eyefucking the chuunin that were mostly off-limits, body language passing the gossip amongst each of these elite shinobi that passed over many genin's heads even as the chuunin affected ignorance. 

Except Hatake wasn't talking to any of the other jounin, fingers holding up a neon orange book to his face but the angle meant he wasn't actually reading. 

No, his attention was solely on Umino Iruka, who was busy haranguing other jounin into writing better reports. 

It wasn't just Hatake he was fearless with. 

And it wasn't only Hatake who was watching Iruka. 

Itachi could feel the chill down his spine. 

He was almost afraid of finding out just what the jounin _really_ thought of Iruka-sensei. 

*** 

"Did you _hear_ what he said to me just the other day? Oh 'jounin-san, please rewrite the report, your handwriting is too messy to read.'" The tone for the title 'jounin-san' was mocking and while Itachi had been there himself, and knew Iruka had been perfectly polite, the fact was none of the other desk chuunin would have even said anything like that to a jounin. 

Not even those from the Uchiha - they'd pass badly written reports to the other more junior chuunin to rewrite instead. 

In comparison, Iruka's mere questioning stood out as insulting, brash and mocking. 

And that was not the only complaint Itachi overheard in the jounin-breakroom. 

"Little bitch thinks because the hokage fucks his ass he can say whatever he wants," said another jounin. Itachi wasn't looking at them, apparently eating a quiet bento in a corner. 

The half hour he had been here had been informative. 

"When the old man passes away, he'd better hope he gets given to Asuma, because otherwise…" 

Hair-raisingly informative. 

There was very little love there for Iruka in the mission room; his behaviour was completely atypical for an obvious career chuunin. While he had one powerful patron in the person of the Hokage, he seemed to have cultivated little affection or at least tolerance from most of the other jounin other than the few who were parents of his students.

Itachi couldn't go lurking in the chuunin break room, but his cousins had frowned and murmured darkly that Iruka had had no friends except the now dead Mizuki. 

And he'd made no especial effort to cultivate ties with most other chuunin other than being a relatively decent colleague. 

Itachi finished his bento mechanically. 

The chuunin exams were approaching soon. Immediately after, Itachi thought, he was going to have to make a move of _some_ sort. Maybe warn Iruka-sensei. 

Sandaime was old, and he had more than one powerful enemy. 

He couldn't bear to think of Sasuke's favourite sensei enduring what many, _many_ young, clan-less chuunin endured. 

****

The preparations were underway, and more jounin were recalled, their missions finished and not given new ones as Konoha pulled into itself like an octopus gearing up to spit a wad of ink in someone's face. 

With more jounin milling around, Itachi figured it was cover enough for him to approach Iruka-sensei at the mission desk.

He let himself drift towards Iruka's desk. 

"Ah, jo- Uchiha-san," Iruka said, blinking up at him in surprise, "You know that there are no A- or B-level missions being assigned right now?" 

His tone was just this side of irritated, and Itachi could almost sympathise, if he wasn't mentally wincing at how damn obvious Iruka's annoyance was. 

"I wasn't going to ask about that." 

"Ah," Iruka said, and then smiled. 

Itachi blinked. It was ridiculously sweet, the way his eyes crinkled, and the corners of his scar deepened. 

And it was just a _relieved_ smile. 

"Then how can I help you, Uchiha-san?" 

"I was thinking," Itachi started, when suddenly a cloaked ANBU showed up behind Iruka's shoulder. 

"Iruka-sensei," said the ANBU, "Hokage-sama wants to see you." 

"Ah," Iruka said, "at once. Please direct your question to one of my colleagues, Uchiha-san!" 

Iruka stood up, bowed once, and then strode out of the room, clearly used to such summons. 

The ANBU stared at Itachi. 

Itachi stared back. 

"Uchiha-san," the ANBU said, and flickered out of sight. 

Itachi didn't let his scowl show on his face, and just turned around and left. 

*** 

"Are you really here to warn me off Iruka-sensei?" Itachi asked the lurking shadow in the tree of the Uchiha Compound, where his room's window was clearly visible. 

The shadow didn't answer. 

Itachi exhaled in a very slow, controlled huff, and then strode out to stand under the tree. 

"Taicho. Spying in my clan's compound is not polite." 

The shadow finally made an irritated huff, and dropped down beside Itachi. 

Even though he'd left the Rat mask behind on accepting the new role of Hokage's bodyguard, Genma hadn't bothered to tie his hair back. 

Itachi resisted the urge to cross his arms, he just waited. 

"You need to be more subtle," Genma said at last. 

"Did the Hokage warn off Hatake as well?" 

The generic red-swirled mask just tilted, eyes completely level with Itachi's gaze. 

Itachi huffed. "What is he saving Iruka-sensei for, Asuma?" 

They both contemplated this prospect in vague horror. 

"Arrogance will get you killed, Itachi-kun," Genma said after a moment. "As will wild conjecture." 

He might as well have called Itachi a brat to his face. 

"Your advice is noted," Itachi said very evenly. 

"Very well," Genma said, equally flat. "Have a good night, Uchiha-san." 

Itachi glared at the tree as his taicho left. 

Iruka had no idea what was going on, he felt. He also seemed to not understand his position of chuunin, _and_ Hatake,someone who openly hated the Hokage, was circling like a vulture. 

Fuck subtlety. 

Itachi was going to court Iruka.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, this is the chapter where this story diverges from a shining knight. In my mind, Itachi wasn't present at the chuunin noms, like maybe he was a day late and that 24 hours was critical enough that he didn't get there in time to court or start to court Iruka. 
> 
> It means he wasn't there in time to prevent Kakashi from claiming Iruka. 
> 
> Sweetsinnerchild has PLANS for Kakashi's backstory so there's that! :D


	4. Diplomacy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Itachi is going to try claiming Iruka. He just wants his clan's support.

Shisui was back in the Village the next day - he'd finished his mission on time, but since no jounin were allowed out on long-distance missions, he would only be taking overnights to the surrounding areas. 

Itachi still intended to catch him before he found a mission that he could take. 

"Cousin," Itachi said, "I'm glad you have arrived home safely. We should have dinner together." 

Shisui paused in the middle of dropping his used gloves and shedding his vest, to look up at Itachi, and then laughed. "Ah, little cousin, who told you I was home already? Surely they haven't sent a pigeon." 

"Yasui happened to be coming on-shift when your team came in," Itachi said, his mouth tilting up a little. "She told Yakumi who told me." 

"Your very own intelligence network," Shisui teased, untying his hitai-ate and dropping it on the pile of his uniform bits. Itachi stepped forward. He'd come to Shisui's rooms with a small set of toiletries and fresh linens, since it always took Shisui an extra half an hour of trying to remember where all his things were when he came home from missions. "Pass me a towel- ah. Thank you." 

Itachi just put the toiletries on the dresser and held up a towel to Shisui - waiting patiently till his cousin leaned down and let him towel dry his sweaty hair. 

"You know me very well, cousin," Shisui said, his short hair gone all spiky. 

"It is less me knowing you and more you wishing personal attention," Itachi said, but he was smiling too. "Welcome home. I have an issue i need to discuss with you." 

*** 

Freshly showered, elbows tucked against his low table, Shisui blinked at Itachi. "You want to claim _who_?" 

"Umino Iruka," Itachi said, patiently. 

"You say that like I'm supposed to know who that is?" Shisui stabbed his chopsticks into a piece of eggplant. "That's not a Clan name." 

"It's not," Itachi agreed, "He's an academy teacher." 

Shisui just kept looking at him. 

"He works in the Mission room too," Itachi said. "Honestly? You didn't notice him at all?" 

Shisui blinked once, like a cat. 

Itachi exhaled. "He taught Sasuke at the Academy." 

"Alright," Shisui said slowly. "So you… like… him?" 

Yes, Itachi almost said. But he made himself take a bite of rice first and carefully compose his words. "He spoke up for Sasuke's safety when Hatake-san nominated his team for the chuunin exams." 

"He's not even a year into his genin team," Shisui said, his gaze sharpening suddenly. "And this - teacher spoke up for him? What are his connections?" 

And suddenly Shisui's attention was completely on him. 

"None," Itachi said, "Other than the fact that he's widely known to be Sandaime's pet." 

Shisui went very still. 

"Sandaime's pet," Shisui said after a long moment. "Sandaime's pet spoke up for Sasuke." 

In all fairness, Itachi had a suspicion that Iruka would have spoken up for any of the newly formed teams, teams that were so new they still had the numbers rather than taking on their Sensei's name as monikers. 

But he'd spoken up first for Sasuke's team, and for Sasuke. He had brought Hatake's attention onto him, and that was probably the most terrifying of all. 

"Mm," Itachi said, eating more eggplant, letting Shisui come to his own conclusions of what it might mean. "In the middle of the chuunin-exam nominations no less." 

"Has the Sandaime made any other overtures?" Shisui said abruptly. 

"Overtures?" 

"If his pet would speak up to jounin like that," Shisui said, "It sounds like the Sandaime has plans for the Uchiha. If not the Uchiha - then for the Clans in general. It means a shift." 

"Father has not mentioned anything of the sort." Itachi took a deep breath. "Maybe Sandaime-sama intends to. But the chuunin himself seems to have no such political agenda." 

"He caught your eye," Shisui pointed out. "If Sandaime himself has not made any movements regarding the Clans, then perhaps the chuunin is trying to jump ship. Except it makes no sense to seek out an Uchiha protection, when he already has the Hokage's…" 

"As if the Uchiha are poised to take power?" Itachi snorted. "Perhaps Sandaime intends to retire, and he intends to will his pet to his son." 

"To _Asuma?_ " Shisui made a face.

"Anyone would want to jump ship at being given away like that," Itachi said. "But no. I think the answer is… he doesn't know." 

"Doesn't know - what?" 

"He has no clan, nor family," Itachi said. "And he speaks boldly to all the jounin, which none of the other chuunin dare to. Perhaps he is used to the power of the Hokage, but everyone knows that Sandaime is probably stepping down in the next five years. If he was seeking a new protector, he should be ingratiating himself to them, not antagonising them."

Shisui's brow furrowed and he stabbed at his rice thoughtfully. "You're wanting to protect him by bringing him into the Clan," Shisui said. "None of us had taken a chuunin from outside the Clan since Grandfather's time." 

"Bringing in new blood. Granted, it wouldn't be the same as marriage nor getting a child off him, but… The elders _have_ made noises about how insular some of the Clans have become." 

Shisui barked a laugh that was very low in mirth. "Keep the political arguments for our honoured Clan head, cousin! The real thing is you're taken with him, and he _doesn't know_. How on earth can that happen?" 

Itachi could feel his cheeks stain with a hint of heat. "Well why not? He is pleasant enough to look at, and while he antagonises all the jounin he's always been pleasant to m- to Sasuke-kun." 

Shisui pointed his chopsticks at Itachi. "I'll tease you about that _later_ , count on that, cousin. No, the question is how can he not know when the Sandaime fucks him?" 

"He doesn't. Use him, that is," Itachi said. Feeling his ears heat a little, his fingers twitch toward his kunai holster, but. 

It was his cousin, and Shisui wasn't even talking about _him_ fucking anyone. The crude language just had become a conditioned trigger. 

"Bullshit," Shisui said, disbelieving. "How-" 

"Sandaime-sama's ANBU guard have confirmed it. And he sent the ANBU to warn me away from his pet - I can only believe that he's keeping this chuunin sheltered for some as yet unknown reason." 

Shisui folded a hand under his chin to smirk at Itachi. "Reasons upon reasons. Fugaku-sama must be pleased with how political minded you're getting. Doesn't hurt that the chuunin is pretty then?" 

Itachi huffed and looked down, making himself eat more rice. "That's not a consideration." 

Shisui snorted. 

"Fine, fine, if you want my permission and support. Hey. Itachi-kun." Shisui clicked his chopsticks at him until Itachi looked back up. Shisui's eyes were serious even if he was smiling slightly. "But be careful. Sandaime-sama has enemies, and so do we. Not everyone's going to like you taking in some clan-less chuunin, Sandaime's pet or not." 

Itachi nodded. "Of course, cousin. I'm always careful." 

****

Shisui was with him when Itachi went back to the mission room to observe. 

It was also a distraction - the chuunin exams were properly underway now, and there was nothing Itachi could do about it except fret, and with so many of the jounin back in Konoha there were jounin _everywhere_ , positively leaking tension. 

Technically Itachi's team was off-shift right now, so Shisui dragging him around was both in-character, and a distraction. 

And Iruka was at the mission room again. 

He looked a little hassled, even if the only ones asking for missions were other chuunin and genin teams, and having to tell them that no, many of their missions were suspended unless they were D-class tiny things around the Village. 

All the jounin were lounging around and using the mission room like an extended break room, and Itachi realised that this - 

This might be a good time to try and talk to Iruka. Itachi could avoid them by just, taking Iruka to the compound. Right? 

"Really, Itachi-kun, here?" Shisui said quietly, lips barely moving from the mild smile he had on for the rest of the audience. "You don't think it's a little public?" 

"Public is necessary," Itachi said, a little grimly. "But i can always - take him somewhere less public after approach -" 

"Or you could ask him to dinner and then kidnap him from there," Shisui said. 

Oh. 

That was a good idea. A better idea. The ANBU guards would be distracted now, he'd probably be able to slip a dinner invite in. 

"Go ask." 

*** 

Iruka agreed to dinner, surprised but oddly pleased, which Itachi had no real idea what it meant, but Iruka also did not believe him when he tried to explain, later, about the whole chuunin thing. 

"I beg your _pardon_ , Uchiha-san," he'd said, flatly disbelieving. 

The thing was. 

The thing was, Itachi had never had to give the Talk. Shisui had given him the Talk after that rather horrible demonstration, and when other cousins had made chuunin, the older chuunin cousins had given them the Talk instead, and Itachi had not always been there to do more than nod. 

After all, he had been barely twelve when he made jounin. Most of his cousins had been at least three years older than him before they made chuunin - him giving them the Talk would have been incredibly awkward for everyone involved. 

This was not any better. 

"Are you genjutsu'd?" Iruka asked 

Itachi sighed. And then put his hands together. "Please allow me to kidnap you," Itachi said. "The Uchiha Compound is much more private and it will be easier." 

Shisui had better be there to do the explaining, he thought. 

"Kidnap me? What, no, itachi-san, you're a very . nice - if strange- date and god knows I don't have many, but -"

Itachi shoved chakra through the seals and teleported them both. 

Sadly, Shisui was not there, he'd buggered off.

Damn Shisui. 

*** 

Teleporting out of a restaurant even if it was a discreet one, meant that the rumours would have started anyway. So the start of Itachi's claim on Iruka helped, even if Iruka had stormed out of the Uchiha compound just half an hour later, after politely calling Itachi a crazy pervert to his face. 

Itachi spent a further half an hour braced for Sandaime to send half his ANBU to possibly stab Itachi a little.

Except. 

The next thing anyone knew, Sound attacked. 

And when the dust cleared, Sandaime was dead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end of Chapter 3, till just before where Itachi was present for the chuunin-exam nominations is actually backstory and canon to sweetsinnerchild's [a shining knight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18449444). In her timeline, Itachi was not present in the chuunin-exam noms, and thus was not available to stop or at least advice Iruka away from approaching Kakashi on his own. From that point, the timelines diverge, but it gets real obvious where the differences are, because Itachi never gets to kidnap Iruka in _that_ timeline and warn him about what it meant to be an unprotected, unclaimed chuunin as he managed here in Chapter 4, despite Iruka not believing him. 
> 
> Itachi's never had to give the Chuunin Talk, because usually the older Chuunin would give it to new ones. He is completely, and utterly, dreading the talk he is going to be giving Sasuke because everyone knows Sasuke is not just an Uchiha, he's the next Uchiha Heir unless Itachi produces a baby within the next couple years. Of course Itachi is going to be the one who has to give the Talk. If his example with Iruka is anything to go by, it's going to be a miserable failure. :D


	5. Fun and Games

It was a mess. 

Everything was a mess for a while. 

Fortunately with all the jounin in or near the Village, the perpetrators were caught quickly, and the destruction was contained.

Itachi and Shisui were, for the first time in years, working occasionally together - Shisui was technically not ANBU but he was high level, well-known enough to be working with a few ANBU units as they hunted down the assassins, put together the intel for who was responsible, making sure the structural damage was first not too much, and then starting the repairs even as they escorted high ranking civilians out of them as everyone collectively stood around and said _What now?_

That was nice. 

It was strange - the end of some sort of era, because Itachi hadn't really been aware of much of Yondaime's rule, and as far as he could really remember, Sandaime had always been there. 

In the ashes of his funeral, though, came about some whispers. 

_Sandaime is dead. Who is Hokage now?_

They needed strength - Suna had attacked them - under a false pretences on Sound's direction, and they weren't terribly sorry but Sound was who they had to build up against. And with such a public, obvious death, they needed someone who could lead them against Sound and rebuild strong alliances. 

Who was strong enough? Who was powerful enough? 

Four names emerged. 

Shimura Danzo. 

Hatake Kakashi. 

Senju Tsunade. 

And Uchiha Itachi. 

*** 

Itachi had been surprised when his father told him this shocking news. But perhaps not so shocking after all. 

His move towards the Hokage's pet had been a subtle but undeniable political statement, and the fact that Sandaime had fallen so quickly after was coincidence but… oddly linked. 

There was some sort of karmic balance in this, Fugaku had said. 

In the Clan Head meetings, Fugaku argued that Itachi was too young to be Hokage, and most of the Elders had agreed readily, but Fugaku had seemed… satisfied. Well pleased with Itachi. 

In the light of this move of the Uchiha, Danzo's clinging to traditional ways was too old-fashioned; he was the same age as Sandaime after all, and could hardly be trusted to be flexible enough for a world that moved this fast. 

Too old, in other words. 

Hatake Kakashi was strong, yes, well-known and a feared shinobi amongst all other Hidden Villages - but Senju Tsunade was even stronger. 

It would, they agreed, be better for Senju Tsunade, granddaughter of the Shodaime, to return and take on the mantle; they would send Hatake Kakashi and Team 7 to retrieve her - if that failed, Hatake Kakashi would be the next Hokage. 

***

The missions started up again, but slowly, as the Clan heads and the Elders, in the interim of waiting for either Tsunade or Kakashi to return, vetted missions that their shinobi could take again. 

They were reluctant to send jounin out too far afield too soon, and thus most jounin were stuck chafing with B- and C-rank missions, and they showed it in even worse report writing and bickering with the desk chuunin. 

Iruka was the only one to stand up to them, saying that it was hardly their fault they couldn't assign anyone any A-ranks, and it wasn't their fault, and please rewrite these mission reports these are terrible! 

The surprise, then was their reaction. 

Before, most jounin would take back their reports, sullen and glaring. 

This time, however - Kobayashi Tomo backhanded Iruka. 

The entire room went silent. 

"The Sandaime is dead, you little chuunin bitch," Tomo said in the silence. "Who do you think you are to talk back to me?" 

Iruka gaped at him in shock. "How dare you attack-" he started, hand going to his kunai holder, when a hand snagged his ponytail and yanked him down, slamming his head against the desk. 

"You're not the hokage's fucktoy anymore," Another jounin sneered. "And the Uchiha merely had you for an hour. You're fair game now, Umino." 

"And how we've been looking forward to it." 

Iruka yelled in protest, trying to wrench free, ice shattering up his spine.

 _As far as everyone knows, Iruka-sensei,"_ Uchiha Itachi had said, _You're Sandaime-sama's … pet. His - his catamite. If you ever lose that protection, you are fair game._

He hadn't believed him. 

But when he fought back, someone had chakra wire on his hands, lashing them to a table. 

When he'd called for help - 

_You have no connections. No Clan protection, and no friends amongst the medics or Intel-chuunin. Iruka-sensei, you're alone._

None of the other chuunin answered. 

_Iruka-sensei, you don't know what's going to happen to you. Let me help._

There were hands on his pants, hands in his hair, twisting his head up and all he could see was a sneer of many, many jounin. 

Iruka knew, suddenly, what was going to happen to him.

***

It was a bird that alerted Itachi. 

A messenger pigeon landing on his window, saying _Stuck at mission room, jounin party. Please come?_

After Itachi's reputation for being extremely prone to stabbing, no other shinobi dared touch an Uchiha, no matter where they were. But sometimes when jounin got extremely vigorous, they tended to block exits, and any chuunin still stuck in a closed environment tended to be stuck there. 

Itachi could count on one hand how many times he's had to go and retrieve his Clansmen, and each time had been incredibly distasteful. But he'd do it anyway. 

He almost, almost wished that they'd taken the damn party to the jounin break room; he had to wend himself past a few jostling bodies - and then froze when he realised who the target of the party was. 

Iruka-sensei.

His vision sharpened. 

*** 

Iruka had lost track of how many hands were on him, just _who_ had their hand in his hair, twisting his head up against firm flesh. 

He'd tried to bite once, and that had gotten him a sharp electrical shock through his _eye_ and he didn't dare to, again. 

Hands were on his hips, and he'd tried to get a shunshin, he'd tried jutsu - and all that earned him was chakra wire biting in between his fingers and wound _tight_ and strangled his chakra in his arms. 

It had been. 

A long while. 

And then suddenly someone yelped. 

Hands tore off him. 

"Please don't touch _my_ property," Uchiha Itachi said, hands full of senbon. 

When Iruka blinked, almost uncomprehendingly, he realised that the glittery lines in front of him were also senbon, in his att- in the other jounin's hands, at least several of them clutching their injured wrists. 

"He's not _Uchiha_ ," said someone. Tomo? 

"He is mine." Itachi was so close, and suddenly no one was touching Iruka, anymore, and he was just, slumped over the table and his hips hurt. 

His - 

His hips hurt. 

"It-tachi-san?" Iruka tried. Itachi glanced down, at him, eyes narrowed, then he was looking back up, around. 

"Please disperse." 

It wasn't a request - the other jounin jerked away, disappearing like smoke in the air, and then Itachi was crouching down beside him. 

"Iruka-sensei," Itachi said, and his senbon were gone, his fingers were. 

So cool, gentle on Iruka's cheek, and Iruka flinched. 

"Hold on," Itachi said, and then the room twisted. 

*** 

Blanket first, and a warm wet towel, then a hot cup of tea - it felt weirdly and horribly familiar, though this was the first time Itachi had - had done this. 

It was like dealing with shock in a comrade, Itachi decided, watching Iruka shudder in the huddle of the blanket. 

"I-" Iruka said, stopped. Voice gone low, shaky and hoarse. 

"I'm sorry I didn't get there faster," Itachi said, quietly. "Do you wish me to stay?" 

Iruka swallowed, curled his fingers around the half-full cup of hot green tea. "Please," he said. "Stay. Itachi-san." 

Itachi nodded. "I'll get you more tea." 

*** 

Haruki had come back fine without Itachi's escort once the jounin had dispersed; she'd said nothing about the fact that Itachi had taken Iruka and installed him in his guest room, having persuaded him to sleep after a quick shower. 

She had just _looked_ at Itachi, her disapproval obvious in how emotionless her expression was, and got Itachi a second set of uniform blacks at his request. 

"Is that all, Itachi-dono?" 

"Yes, thank you," Itachi said. Taking them and inhaling slowly. "Shisui approves of my choice, Haruki." 

She tipped her head just a fraction forward, _I heard you._

"The clan will support my choice," Itachi said. "Could you tell the kitchens that I have a guest tonight for dinner." 

"Of course. Itachi-dono." 

He exhaled in a sigh as she left. 

Well, at least Shisui was on his side. 

*** 

Walking Iruka back to his next shift was just as good as a claim. Well, he had openly damaged several fellow jounin retrieving Iruka, publicly stated he was his property, and now was walking him back. 

The most caveman-like of his colleagues would probably view that as possessive. 

Short of actually literally screwing Iruka in front of everybody on the Hokage monument, he had quite definitively staked a claim that no one could deny. 

"You will be alright?" Itachi said, outside the door. It was a Saturday, there was no class today so Iruka's shift was in the mission room, and he looked as pale as the wall but he nodded. 

"If you do not mind," Itachi said, "I would like to pick you up at the end of your shift." 

Iruka took an audible breath and then managed a smile. "Thank you," he said. "If you don't mind, Itachi-san." 

One day, Itachi thought, he'd like Iruka to call him _Itachi-kun_ , just like Shisui did, sometimes. 

But he could wait. 

He nodded. "I'll see you in six hours, Iruka-sensei." 

No one looked at him as he left. 

*** 

To the surprise of absolutely no one, the entire Uchiha Clan utterly disapproved. None of the cousins, even the ones older than Itachi, said anything at all, because Itachi was not only one of their three jounin, he was also the Clan heir. 

"It's an astute political choice," Fugaku said in his office, Itachi sitting calmly opposite him. "And now we are poised closest to political power as we had since the founding of Konoha. But really… Him?" 

Itachi said nothing. 

Fugaku sighed. "He has no clan name." 

"Shisui supports my choice," Itachi said blandly. 

"Shisui," Fugaku muttered darkly, "overindulges you completely." 

Itachi smoothed his thumbs over his thighs. "Shisui does what is right for the Clan." He waited a beat while Fugaku's eyes narrowed. "As do I." 

Fugaku's eyes narrowed further. 

"I should go, Father," Itachi said. "It's nearly time to pick up Iruka-sensei. Please let Sasuke-kun know that I'm not joining you for dinner." 

Itachi thought he heard Fugaku mutter something almost like a curse when he left his office, but of course, it might be just the wind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Itachi isn't even Hokage yet, and he's already a giant brat. How well does this bode for Konoha when he DOES become Hokage? I don't know. :D
> 
> In other news, this goddamn AU, already an alternate universe of sweetsinnerchild's [a shining knight](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18449444), spawned ANOTHER alternate timeline, starting from this chapter. 
> 
> What happens if, instead of the Council deciding on either Tsunade or Kakashi, they decided on Danzo? _Changes in Regulations_ is that fic.


	6. Epilogue: A Shining Knight

Life under Tsunade was good. With Itachi's obvious protection, Iruka-sensei settled back into his routines, though Itachi had not given up on trying to convince Iruka to give up his mission-desk shifts; it put him in so much contact with other jounin, Itachi didn't know how Iruka could stand it without having nightmares. 

But Iruka's stronger than he looked, and seemed to work just fine in the mission room anyway. 

He was less combative and confrontational with other jounin, perfectly professional and polite, and - while other chuunin would hardly ask jounin to rewrite their shitty reports, Iruka still asked them to. 

Haruki had told Itachi, cool and even, that Iruka had asked them to please rewrite the report and he would back-date it as handed in on time; some of the jounin had taken askance at that, but when they'd looked up, and saw Haruki on her desk duty across the room, had not said anything more. 

It wasn't much, but it was a start. 

Itachi had also made a routine of walking Iruka to his shifts,waiting till he was off class, when he could, and Iruka-sensei was opening up to him too, his speech less shyly polite, and sometimes he laughed, but only when they were in as private a booth as Itachi could make in the restaurants out of the way, even if they were somewhat higher priced than Iruka was obviously comfortable with. 

Yesterday, Iruka had slipped and called him Itachi-kun. 

That had been pleasing. 

Itachi hoped that Iruka would keep doing it.

*** 

Itachi was waiting for Iruka after the end of Academy session, the last day before summer break, when the scuff of sandals in sand in front of him made him look up from his book. 

Tall, taller than Itachi, but younger by a handful of years, his jounin vest was still remarkably new. 

"May I help you, jounin-san?" Itachi said after a moment's silence. 

"I would like to challenge you, Uchiha-san," said the jounin. 

Itachi closed his book, completely puzzled. "You would?" 

No one, except Shisui, had challenged Itachi for _anything_ in years, because Itachi indulged Sasuke completely. And no one else dared to challenge the Hokage's heir-apparent, especially after Hatake Kakashi had his mental breakdown last year after a mission in Waterfall had him encountering the leader of the nearly mythical terrorist group Akatsuki, and nearly gone rogue. If it hadn't been for Sasuke's timely intervention, Konoha's list of missing-nin would have grown by one, and then all of the Uchiha clan would have had to get involved in putting Hatake down for good. Not a prospect that either Itachi or Shisui had looked forward to. 

But it meant Hatake was safely back in Konoha bounds and now getting some extremely belated psychiatric help and currently out of the running for Rokudaime. 

Itachi had been having a very easy life in the Village as a result. 

"Tadashi-kun?" Iruka's voice came out from the door behind Itachi and well, at least one of them recognised this new challenger.

"Iruka-sensei!" Tadashi-the-new-jounin said, smiling brightly at Iruka as the teacher came out, touting his heavy bag of papers he'd been staying behind to sort to bring back to the Uchiha compound. 

To _their_ home. 

"You're jounin now? Congratulations!" Iruka was smiling too. 

"Yes I am. And - I can now challenge Uchiha-san for you," tadashi said. 

"Oh," Itachi said. Blinking. "I see. Would you reconsider?" 

"For Iruka-sensei's hand? Never," Tadashi said. 

Iruka choked behind Itachi's shoulder. "Tadashi-kun, I am perfectly fine," he said. 

"Uchiha-san," tadashi said, ignoring Iruka. All bright intensity and resolve. 

Itachi stood up and put away his book. "Alright," he said. "Tomorrow, at the Uchiha Compound - " he paused, and Iruka supplied, "Kishino," "-Kishino-san," Itachi said, "At six pm. Would that be acceptable to you?" he glanced at Iruka. That should be at least an hour after Iruka's mission-desk shift, so that would be more than enough time for Iruka to be present. 

"Yes," Tadashi said. "Is - now not appropriate?" 

"You challenged me, I set the time and place," Itachi said, not quite chiding, and Tadashi ducked his head. 

He looked incredibly young and infatuated. 

Puppy-love. 

"I'll have a medic present. Shall we, Iruka-sensei?" 

"I'll see you tomorrow, Iruka-sensei," Tadashi said before Iruka could do more than blush. 

Itachi didn't smile, but that took effort.

*** 

"I'm not a _Medic_ ," Genma grumbled, while Raidou and one of their other squad members ate half their weight in the sweetmeats that Itachi had the kitchen staff lay out. 

"That is not what my memories in my youth tell me," Itachi said serenely. "I remember you saying we all had to listen to you because you were a doctor." 

"And you didn't listen, now look at you, you're still a tiny shrimp," Genma said, faux-severe. 

"Clearly you weren't a very good doctor," Itachi said, and saw one of his cousins - and Tadashi. 

"Here you are, Kishino-san. This is Genma-taicho, he is acting as our medic today. Namiashi-san and Tenzou-san are here as witnesses." 

They both nodded at Tadashi, who looked a little surprised at having witnesses. 

"I'm sorry, I should have asked if you had a witness of your own, but two are traditional," Itachi said, "And you can trust that Raidou and Tenzou to be unbiased." 

"I would never doubt their integrities," Tadashi said, his cheeks a little pink. 

He could definitely see Tenzou's ANBU tattoo. 

"Can you start now? It's just six," Genma said. 

"Shall we?" itachi said, walking out to the courtyard. "You can still withdraw your challenge, Kishino-san." 

Tadashi glanced to where Iruka was sitting on the veranda and shook his head. 

"Alright," Itachi said. 

He waited till Tadashi drew his kunai and then struck. 

He didn't want to draw this out - and the kid was fast, but no one was faster than Itachi when he put his mind to it, and the kid couldn't even put a mark on Itachi before Itachi had senbon up his hands and Tadashi's kunai tossed across to Tenzou. 

"Fuck, Itachi," Raidou said. "Warn someone before you put their eye out." 

Itachi ignored him. "Are you alright, Kishino-san?" 

Tadashi blinked at him, and managed to nod. 

"Genma-taicho?" 

"If you didn't put the senbon just where they should be I would be kicking your ass across the village, kid," Genma said, but he was already checking Tadashi's hands, and carefully tugging the senbon out. "No permanent damage, a day, maybe two, on the safe side, of keeping them wrapped. You're mission-ready, kid." 

"Thank you, Uchiha-san," Tadashi managed, a little pale, but he still could smile politely and then Iruka was coming up to them. 

"That was - foolhardy, Tadashi-kun!" 

"But sensei -" 

"I am happy with Itachi-kun,' iruka said, sternly, and the kid wilted like a flower in the sun. 

Genma and Itachi exchanged looks. 

_Itachi-kun_ Genma mouthed. 

Itachi's eyes narrowed. 

Genma smirked. 

"And I appreciate your effort on my behalf. It was kindly meant. But please, put forth your effort for your other chuunin comrades, alright?" 

"Alright, Iruka-sensei," the kid said, like a puppy. Iruka helped him towards a nearby chair, and proceeded to hover over him for the next ten minutes like a mother hen. 

"Looks like you'll have more challengers in the future?" Genma murmured to Itachi. 

"I don't mind," itachi said, catching Iruka's gaze for a moment, and smiled a little wider, a little hotter, when Iruka blinked and then blushed, before resolutely turning away to get Tadashi a plate of yakitori. "Iruka-sensei should see that someone is willing to fight for him." 

Genma made a sound suspiciously like gagging. 

"And I am willing to." Itachi leaned back a little. "Can you fetch me some tea, Genma-taicho? Fighting is thirsty work, and I'm still growing." 

"You are a growing _brat_ ," Genma said, and went to fetch him some tea. 

Itachi tipped his head back to the darkening sky, and smiled. 

END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This did not stem from a need to save Tadashi, entirely. But it was certainly there. This stemmed from a need to save Iruka from his tragedy, because if only some other jounin had been there to explain it to Iruka more gently, if only there had been a jounin to get in there before Kakashi had. 
> 
> But saving Iruka also meant i got to save Tadashi, poor sweet naive kid whose death had been a spectacle of Iruka's tragedy, and I'm well pleased with this. 
> 
> It also meant i got yet another damn brat Itachi out of the mix, because without the massacre, with the Clan he loves, you get…. This. 
> 
> In another year, Tsunade retires and fucks off, and drops the Hat on Itachi, and then he's going to be the worst and youngest brat of a Hokage Konoha has ever seen, because he's already doing whatever he wants as Clan heir of Uchiha. He's going to do whatever the fuck he wants as Konoha's Hokage, and everyone's going to damn well like it. 
> 
> I most definitely hadn't expected Genma to turn up as a supporting character in this one - where in Clownfish AU, Itachi had been in Kakashi's ANBU squad, but kakashi's bugfuck crazy in this AU so instead. Genma was Itachi's ANBU taicho. Genma as Itachi's trusted taicho was unexpected, and meant to be a throwaway line at the end of Key Performance Indicators. Then the sneaky bastard kept wending himself in and now Itachi's using him as one of the many older, more experienced jounin he's already wound around his fingers to do what he wants and Tsunade already probably can see the nascent political genius Itachi is/was and obviously he's the best choice as Rokudaime. 
> 
> Gods help Konoha.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Changes in Regulations](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18694468) by [drelfina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/drelfina/pseuds/drelfina)




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